Out Of Nowhere
by LittletonPace
Summary: At a routine crime scene, Nick meets a victim, Emily; an abused, pregnant woman who needs more help than she'd ever ask for. Why does Nick feel it's his job to save her? Please Read and Review if you like it :D
1. Chapter 1: Just Another Day

**_Just throught I'd say, timeline wise, this story is set in season eight after Sara's departure but before the end of the season._**

**Chapter 1: Just Another Day**

Nick Stokes slammed shut his SUV door and locked it before he headed toward the crime scene before him; kit in hand. It was a domestic disturbance case; unfortunately very routine these days. Greg Sanders was chatting to Captain Brass just inside the crime scene tape when Nick arrived.

"Hey." He greeted them both with a nod. "What's going on?"

"Neighbour phoned it in." Jim jerked his head at an elderly woman holding a small, white dog stand nearby with a police officer. "Lovely Mrs. Walker says she heard shouting and banging. House belongs to a Sam Riley; he lives here with his girlfriend Emily Anderson. He's a below minimum wage earner; drain on the state. On worker's pension for falling off a step ladder a year ago. He's apparently waiting on some big settlement cheque from his old company. The girlfriend works down the street at the local diner."

"She hurt?" Nick asked, glancing up at the house. It was definitely not glamorous. It was about the size of a small apartment; a house built for retirees mostly.

Brass nodded. "Bruises to the face; obvious defensive wounds on her body. She doesn't want to leave the house; medics are in there with her now." He heaved a huge sigh. "She's pregnant; looked about six months to me."

"Damn." Nick muttered under his breath. Abusive boyfriend and husbands were the worst types of criminals to Nick; they always hit him harder than other cases. "Her kid ok?"

"Medic's will find out." Brass told him.

"No sign of Sam." Greg spoke up. "I've been processing outside; seems to me he took off kinda quick. But there's a lot of blood in there." He jabbed a thumb towards the house.

"I'll go talk to Emily; see if she'll give me her clothes." Nick told them. If she had attacked Sam; his DNA would be all over her and Nick needed it before it was contaminated. But in his experience, pregnant, battered women were not easy to deal with.

Nick headed into the house and past the police officer close to the door. He ran into two medics leaving the premises as he came in. "How is she?" Nick asked them.

"In shock; I think." Tim Stevens, a weathered paramedic of thirteen years, said with a sigh. "She's brave, though. Doesn't seem to want to talk much. Medically she's fine except for cuts and scrapes but she didn't want to come with us."

"Think she'll let me process her for DNA?" Nick asked as he removed some latex gloves from his kit and snapped them on.

Tim shrugged. "Maybe; she didn't really wanna be touched. If she does; see if you can convince her to go to a hospital; her baby needs to be monitored but we can't force her to come with us."

"Thanks, Tim." Nick nodded at him and continued into the living room. There were three policeman around pointing at different items at the scene and making notes. Most of the blood was towards the left hand side of the room beside some broken furniture and scattered books and CD's. Emily, a thirty-something Caucasian female, was sitting on the other side of the room on the couch with her legs crossed and her arms over her belly. She looked vacant; in disbelief. She had a freshly bandaged cut on her head, a bruise on her jaw and red marks all down her arms. Nick knelt in front of her. "Ms. Anderson, my name is Nick Stokes; I'm with the crime lab."

She glanced over at him briefly. "You a cop?"

"No ma'am, not exactly." Nick replied.

"Then what are you, _exactly_?" She asked, her face remaining expressionless.

"Well, I'm a scientist." Nick told her, noting that by her accent she was definitely was not an American.

"Good for you." She said in a low voice.

"I need to take some scrapings under your fingernails." Nick continued gently.

"To look for Sam's DNA, right?" She answered; still not making eye contact with Nick.

"Yes." Nick confirmed, noting that perhaps she was under the influence of something; that would account for how checked-out she seemed. _Or she could just be in total shock_, Nick told himself.

She held her hands forward with her fingers spread. "Knock your socks off." She mumbled.

"I gotta take a few photos of your injuries, that ok?" She didn't protest so Nick took that as a yes and clicked his camera on. He snapped a few photos of her hands as well as her arms and her face. Then Nick retrieved a bindle and a scraper from his kit and took Emily's hand in his own. He scraped what he could from under her nails; noting they had drying blood on them as he added his findings to his kit. "Ma'am, are you sure you don't want to go to a hospital and get your baby checked out?"

"I already told that cop that I hit Sam." She answered vacantly as Captain Brass came into the scene. He glanced at them but didn't stop; he went over to one of the other officers standing nearby Emily and Nick.

Nick furrowed his brow. "Did you tell him why?"

For the first time, Emily looked him in the eyes and smiled a very weak smile. "Because he was a bad guy, Mr. Stokes. I just wish it hadn't taken me this long to figure it out." She ran a hand over her belly. "He's not dead. I didn't kill him...if it wasn't for this damn baby; I could have, though..."

Nick glanced up at Brass, who nodded that he'd also heard what she'd said. "Ma'am, I need to take your clothes." He said to her. Emily looked at him; obviously wanting to protest; but she said nothing. Instead she tried to get up off the couch – it proved difficult with her belly in the way. Instinctively, Nick reached for her elbow to help her up but she swatted him away.

"I can do it myself." She snapped at him as she managed, awkwardly, to get to her feet. "See?"

"Sergeant Louis?" Brass called to a female officer waiting by the door. "Can you escort Ms. Anderson back to her room to change?"

"Yes, sir." Sergeant Louis nodded.

"Come on." Nick reached for Emily's elbow again but this time she smacked him away; hard.

"Don't touch me! Nobody touches me!" She screamed in his face.

"I'm sorry." Nick told her, backing off. "I'm sorry." Suddenly she started to squint her eyes; as if someone had turned a spotlight on her. "You ok?" he asked her concernedly; but he didn't touch her.

"I...I..." She stammered before fainting straight forwards.

Nick caught her before she hit the ground. "Get the paramedics!" he yelled to Sergeant Louis. "NOW!"

**xxx**


	2. Chapter 2: Rest Easy

**Chapter 2: Rest Easy**

The paramedics immediately took Emily to the hospital. Nick, who buried the desire to follow deep inside him, started processing inside the living room. He started with the blood by the broken furniture. There was a lot of it. The police had released the scene for the CSI's to investigate so when Greg joined Nick it was just the two of them with an officer standing guard by the doorway.

"You think all the blood's his?" Greg asked as he watched over Nick's shoulder.

Nick shook his head. "Emily was bleeding. Some of it's gotta be hers."

Greg noticed some strands of blood leading away from the main puddle towards the door. "I got a blood trail leading outside." He commented as he took some photos. Following the trail; he noticed it stopped by the front door near the coat rack. "Guy probably staunched the bleeding with a jacket or something...the trail doesn't go onto the porch."

Nick was only half-listening. He had found something useful in the mess of books and CD's before him; it was a photo of Emily and a man Nick assumed was Sam. The pair were smiling and standing on top of a cliff overlooking a morning sunrise. The photo was dated approximately just less than a year ago.

"That's Sam." Greg confirmed as he saw the photo in Nick's hands. "Matches his mugshot." Greg went to his kit and retrieved a file Brass had given him a short time before. "Arrested two years ago for drunk and disorderly behaviour; spent six months behind bars." Greg showed the photo to Nick.

"Anything on Emily?" Nick asked as he set the photo back down.

"No; Brass is doing a background check on her now." Greg said as he went back to work.

Nick found a footprint pressed into the carpet in blood and snapped a photo and carefully lifting it off the floor. He found a few similar prints in varying amounts of blood but none that left the living room. "He took his shoes off." Nick noted.

"Or she did." Greg added. "Coulda cleaned up after Sam left and before the cops arrived.

"Mm." Nick mumbled in reply.

"Ok gents," Brass said as he came into the hallway; being sure to stay out of the crime scene. "Pulled some info on Emily Anderson; she's an Australian by blood and is here in a temporary Visa. Arrived about this ten months ago; renewed the Visa in January; all in all she seems a pretty by-the-book immigrant."

"Ten months?" Nick repeated as he got to his feet. "She got pregnant pretty quick."

"Yeah; well, it happens." Brass shrugged. "I'm still waiting on some records from Aus but its two a.m. tomorrow there right now so it'll be awhile. From what I can find since she's been in the states; she's clean as a preacher's sheets." He handed his findings over to Greg. "Not even a parking ticket."

"Did she make it to the hospital?" Nick asked.

"Yeah; spoke to the doc; he said she'll be fine." Brass answered. "Still not too cooperative. I want you back down there." Brass pointed at Nick.

"Me? Why?" Nick asked.

"In the ten seconds she spent with you she said more than to the rest of us combined." Brass explained. "Probably that godforsaken Southern charm. Either way; I cleared it with Gris; he said he'll lend us Catherine to help Greg finish up here."

"Go, man." Greg told Nick with a smile. "It'll be nice to run point for awhile."

Nick snapped off his gloves and headed out of the crime scene. "Don't mess this up." He told his partner with a wink.

**xxx**

Nick arrived at the hospital twenty minutes later to find a police officer posted out the front of Emily's room. Officer Taggard explained he was there because of fears that Sam may return and also that she was currently still a suspect. Emily was asleep so Nick spoke to the doctor.

"What happened to her?" Nick asked Dr. Oakly.

"Nothing too serious." Dr. Oakly told him. "Her blood pressure is very low but her records show that's normal for her. Although it's even lower than that right now."

"Because of the abuse?" Nick inquired.

Dr Oakly nodded. "Yes; I'd say so. But from what I could tell the abuse hasn't been ongoing. She has no broken bones or old bruises."

"Some men just know the right place to hit." Nick winced as he looked through the door to Emily.

"We're bringing her pressure back up slowly; if we do it to fast it could harm the baby." Dr. Oakly continued.

"Baby's ok?" Nick asked.

"Foetal heartbeat is normal; baby's moving and there are no bleeds to the internal abdomen." Dr Oakly said. "Funny thing about pregnancy; you'd think the further along she was the more harm to the infant; it's actually the opposite. Baby was in the safest place it could be."

"Was she sexually assaulted?" Nick asked carefully.

"SAE was negative; most of the damage appears to be above her waist." Dr Oakly informed him.

"Do you have her clothes?" Nick asked, his eyes glancing in to Emily's room again.

"Kept them aside for you." Dr Oakly said. "They're at the nurse's station; just show them your badge; I'll give them your name."

"Thanks." Nick nodded. "Has she said anything?"

"No." Dr. Oakly shook her head.

"When she wakes up; will she be up to talking?" Nick continued.

"You misunderstand me, Mr. Stokes." Dr Oakly said with a smile. "She _can_ talk; she just _won't._ She doesn't seem to care what's going on around her. As I was doing the prenatal exam; she wouldn't even look at the monitor. She doesn't seem to care for her infant at all."

"She's been through a serious trauma." Nick said; sounding more defensive than he meant to. "Her mind's not in the right place." Dr. Oakly held her mouth closed and didn't say anything. "Look; the guy who did this to her is still out there and I need to find out what she knows."

"I understand that." Dr. Oakly nodded. "And Captain Brass claims that you developed a rapport with her?"

Nick didn't really think the five minutes of tense conversation he'd had with Emily qualified as 'rapport' but to solve this case he needed to talk to her so he nodded at the doctor. "Yeah; apparently."

"Don't stay long." Dr. Oakly told him. "She needs rest."

"Thank you, doctor." Nick told her as he headed into Emily's room. Her eyes opened as he came in; she didn't look happy to see him. "Hey."

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"Well; we didn't really get to finish talking." Nick said as he pulled a chair nearer to her bed.

"You said you're not a cop; why should I tell you anything?" she asked bitterly; turning her head away from him.

"I'm here to help you, Emily." Nick said sincerely. "And I wanna find the guy who did this to you – to your baby..." he trailed off when she rolled her eyes at the mention of her child. "Can you just tell me what happened?"

Emily turned to him with angry tears in her eyes. "This is why they sent you here; isn't it?" She snapped. "They think a hot guy with an accent's gonna make me divulge everything that happened! There's nothing to tell! He hit me! I hit him back! He left! Would you just leave me alone?!" she rolled over and turned her back to Nick.

Nick knew better than to push a woman in her condition so he just got to his feet. He took a business card from his pocket and set it on the bedside table. "I'm leaving you my card. Call me if you need anything."

"I won't." Emily grumbled. "Just get out."

Nick watched her for a few moments before leaving her alone. He went down the hall to the nurse's station to get Emily's clothes and passed her room again on the way out. He peered in only slightly so she couldn't see him. Nick watched as she picked up his business card; looked at it for a few moments, then scrunched it up and tossed it across the room. Sighing deeply; Nick continued down the hall and headed back to the crime lab.

**xxx**


	3. Chapter 3: Dead Ends

**Chapter 3: Dead Ends**

When Nick arrived back at the lab, Catherine greeted him on his way to Trace. "Hey Nicky." She said as she fell into step beside him. "How's the girl?"

"Angry. Confused. And she seems to hate my guts." Nick told her. "How'd you guys do?"

"Well, Sam Riley's still MIA but Brass put and APB out the car; hopefully it comes up with a match." Catherine handed Nick the manila folder she was carrying. "Greg tested the blood samples you picked up off the floor. Most of it was Sam's – his DNA was in the system from the drunk and disorderly awhile back – and some of it was also Emily's matched it to the sample the hospital sent over."

"Well, she had a nasty cut to her head." Nick mused. "They musta had a tussle...what I don't get is why? Why attack her? In the pictures I found they look happy."

Catherine shrugged. "Everybody looks happy in photos Nick; that's why they call 'em Kodak moments." She sighed.

"Maybe he freaked about becoming a father?" Nick suggested.

"Maybe...but then why not finish the job?" Catherine asked. "I mean, the baby's fine, right? And going by the photos you took of Emily most of the injuries seem to be on her upper body as opposed to her belly."

Nick shrugged. "Maybe she was too strong?" he thought aloud.

Catherine gave him a look. "Take it from me, Nick, when you're seven months pregnant it's hard enough to just get on your feet let alone beat a guy to a pulp." She paused. "No bruising on her hands?"

Nick shook his head. "No; she scratched him – her nails were torn to shreds – but nothing to indicate she punched him."

"Then she had to have used a weapon." Catherine continued. "We didn't find anything at the crime scene. And there weren't a lot of places _to_ search." She clucked her tongue. "Maybe Emily hid it after she hit him?"

"I guess she could've." Nick agreed loosely. "Or maybe Sammy took it when left her behind."

Catherine glanced up at Nick a second time. "Or that." She muttered.

"Look; I'm not saying she's innocent." Nick told her quickly.

"Sounds like it to me." Catherine said with a wry grin. "Nicky; you know better than to get too involved in cases like-"

"I'm not involved." Nick almost laughed. "Jim told me to go see her and she sure as hell wasn't happy about it."

Catherine sighed. "Maybe I could try?"

"Knock your socks off." Nick told her as he headed into the lab to process Emily's clothes. It wasn't until he was scanning her bloodied singlet that he realized Emily had used exactly that same phrase when he'd met her.

**xxx**

Catherine wasn't sure what to expect when she saw Emily but it certainly wasn't what she saw. Emily was very beautiful and very sad at the exact same time. She had a furrowed brow that seemed to be permanently stamped into her forehead and she wasn't at all happy to see Catherine.

"Who are you?" She asked warily.

"My name is Catherine Willows; I'm with CSI." She answered.

Emily laughed sardonically. "Great. First they send in the cute one; he doesn't work so now they send you."

"Ma'am; no one sent me here." Catherine replied curtly.

"Right; you came off your own moral high-horse, did ya?" Emily sneered. "And I bet you're a mother, too. Think you're gonna reach me on that heart-warming, maternal level? You're wasting your time, Cathy."

"It's Catherine. And yes, I am a mother." Catherine told her as she folded her arms over her chest. "You don't have to make this so hard; we just want to help you."

"Same speech; different messenger." Emily leant back in her bed and held a hand to her stomach. "You don't know a thing about me, sweetheart."

"Look; I'll be straight with you." Catherine said; fed up with her attitude. "You're boyfriend's missing; you admit to attacking him and we found blood all over your house and clothes – this does not a good picture paint."

"So now you're arresting me?" Emily asked wryly. "You're a scientist; you can't do that."

"We just need to know what you know." Catherine said. "Why don't you want him back here? Is it because of the baby; did he change his mind?"

"Just get out." Emily spat at her.

"Or maybe he did and you didn't; you certainly don't seem like the motherly type to me." Catherine snapped.

"Get out!" Emily roared. "GET OUT!"

"Catherine!" Captain Brass yelled from the door. "In the hall; now!"

Catherine stormed out of Emily's room full of anger; prepared to go at it with Jim. "She doesn't want that baby." Catherine snapped at him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Brass snapped in a whisper. "That girl was attacked by someone she trusted and you waltz in there and start telling her off? What's the matter with you?"

"She doesn't care." Catherine laughed uneasily.

"Cath; you've seen that kinda thing before. Drug addict mums, hooker mums – it happens." Brass said. "I know how you get with these cases. Take a step back and think about what you're doing, alright? That woman is scared; she's got nowhere to go and she's got a kid on the way. She already thinks we're all against her and what you just did was only proving her point."

Catherine sighed; regaining her composure. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"I don't want you in a room with her again; too risky." Brass told her. "Keep your distance, alright?"

Catherine nodded, all of a sudden aching for Lindsay, and headed back down the hall. She checked her clock and realized her daughter would be home from school now. Before she went back to the lab; she rang home.

**xxx**

Nick found both Emily and Sam's blood on her singlet – which he expected – and was scanning her skirt with a magnifying glass when Greg came in.

"Hey." He said as he arrived beside Nick. "The footprint you pulled; size 12 men's loafer. Pretty common but I checked the shoes in Sam's closet; he was a twelve. Not definitive; but it's something."

"Yeah; so is this." Nick mumbled as he tweezed a long hair, with a skin tag still intact, tangled in a loose thread on the hem of Emily's skirt. He held it up against the light. "Redhead."

"Ooh; my fave." Greg deadpanned. "But Emily is a brunette."

"Yeah. And Sam is a crew-cut blonde." Nick said as he collected the hair in a bindle. "Maybe someone else was in that house."

**xxx**


	4. Chapter 4: Missing Pieces

**Chapter 4: Missing Pieces**

After a chat with her daughter and a strong coffee; Catherine came back to the lab and found Nick in the break room staring intently at his crime scene photos of Emily's injuries. "You working on your break?" she asked him as she pulled up a chair at the table.

"Yeah; just working out a hunch." He mumbled. "I found a hair on Emily's clothes; not hers or the boyfriends. I sent it to Wendy."

"So what's your hunch?" Catherine asked; thumbing through the photos.

"The cut on Emily's head." Nick showed Catherine the picture he'd taken of her wound underneath the bandage the paramedics put there. "It's thin but deep; kinda she had something dragged across her face like maybe a stone on a ring."

"Ok." Catherine said awaiting the rest of his theory.

"Emily wasn't attacked like a man would attack her." Nick explained. "She was hit in the face and around her chest; she wasn't raped or sexually assaulted in anyway. The only thing that says a man hit her is her word."

"You think a woman was there." Catherine nodded along with his quite rational hunch. "Maybe Sam had a lady on the side who didn't know about Emily."

"Yeah, exactly." Nick said, happy that Catherine was on board.

"Nick?" Wendy called from the doorway. "I got the results back on the hair. Sorry; no match with the database. But it did belong to a female. And no need to check whether the carpet matched the drapes on this red-head; she coloured her hair. You're looking for a natural blonde."

"Aren't we all?" Hodges deadpanned from the couch where he'd been sleeping; apparently no one had noticed. He rolled of the couch and came towards Wendy as she handed her findings to Catherine. "Actually, I'm a brunette boy by habit." He said to her.

"Must be why you love yourself." Wendy quipped as she sauntered passed him back towards the lab.

"Har-har." Hodges sarcastically chuckled as he followed her out.

"Ok..." Catherine heaved a heavy breath and turned back to the photos. "So we need to track down this fake redhead."

"Maybe we should ask Emily about her." Nick said slowly.

"She never mentioned another person; she obviously doesn't want us to know what the hell happened in there." Catherine told him.

"Doesn't mean we just give up." Nick said with a shrug.

"No one's giving up." Catherine assured him. "But you're focusing on the wrong element here, Nick. The evidence; that's what we're looking at here. Not Emily."

"There you guys are." Greg said as he came into the break room with wide, excited eyes. "We found Sam Reilly."

Nick got to his feet immediately. "Where is he?"

"Downtown with Brass. They're bringing his car into the lab right now." Greg continued. "I'm gonna meet the guys downstairs; you coming?" he motioned to Nick.

Nick, who wanted to be downtown interrogating Sam, swallowed the unease creeping into his throat and nodded at Greg. "Sure; be right there."

"I'll go see Brass." Catherine offered. "Sam might know our missing redhead."

**xxx**

In the lab garage; Nick and Greg surveyed the beat up old Ford that sat before. It was a dull black but had paint flaking off it; it was obviously very second-hand. "I'll take the inside." Nick offered.

"You got it." Greg replied as he set about scanning the outer shell of the car.

Nick didn't find anything too useful in the backseat but underneath the passenger's side he found a stray lipstick that really seemed out of place with all the empty fast food wrappers and soda cans. Knowing he could easily match the DNA to Emily or perhaps the redhead, Nick collected the lipstick in a plastic evidence bag. He then dusted the steering wheel for fingerprints and found three different impressions in the leather. He tape lifted each one carefully and documented them.

"And we have a winner." Greg yelped from the rear of the car.

"What did ya get?" Nick asked as he moved around to see.

"Looks like blood." Greg knelt before the rear bumper and sprayed a dried, maroon patch about the size of a large marble with luminal. Seconds later it lit up in a bright blue.

"It's blood alright." Nick said. "What's the bet its Sam's?"

Greg then used the key's that had been brought in with the car to unlock the trunk. It was full of more rubbish as well as some tools and rags. The two CSI's started pulling out things one at a time and carefully examining them for blood and other trace evidence.

When Catherine came into the garage Nick was inspecting a hammer and Greg was sifting through a handful of rubbish. "Having fun?" she said, keeping her distance so she wouldn't interfere.

"What did Sam say?" Nick asked her immediately.

"Nothing much. Just that he wanted a lawyer. And when the lawyer came; he said nothing." Catherine sighed. "He claims Emily attacked him first and he was just defending himself."

"She's seven months pregnant." Nick laughed.

Catherine gave a little shrug. "All a judge is gonna notice is the blood; most of it was Sam's. As well as the scratches all over his face he had a nasty cut to the back of his head, suggests whoever did it came at him from behind. Even a pregnant woman can wield a blunt object if they attacked from the back."

"And this'd do the trick." Greg spoke up. He'd gone back to the trunk to get another handful of things to sort through and uncovered a bloody pipe wrapped in an old towel. "Miss Scarlett in the Library with the Lead Pipe..." he mumbled to himself as he came back to the assembly table. "I'll compare the blood to Sam and dust it for prints."

"Oh, Brass got that file from Australia." She told them as she searched for it in the papers in her hands. "Emily Abigail Anderson; 32." She read when she found what she was looking for. "Only child from Melbourne, parents Mark and Peggy Anderson. Her father died nine years ago and as far as we know her mother still lives in Melbourne. She was arrested a couple of times as a teenager for protesting with AAWS."

"What's that?" Greg asked, looking up from the pipe.

"Australian Animal Welfare Strategy." Catherine said with an ironic shrug. "I don't get it; how can someone who apparently loves animals so much be so apathetic about her own child."

"So Sam didn't say anything about why she allegedly attacked him?" Nick asked, completely ignoring what he was supposed to be doing.

Catherine shook her head. "Lawyer put a stop to that."

"Anything on that supposed settlement cheque he's meant to be getting?" Greg asked.

Catherine shook her head again. "Brass is doing what he can." She turned and headed out. "Keep at it boys."

Nick left Greg a few minutes later with the fingerprints and lipstick he'd collected and went to see Wendy. He gave her the lipstick and told her to test for DNA and compare it to the sample they had of Emily's from the hospital.

"Did you check for prints?" Wendy asked; glancing over the lipstick case.

"Yeah; nothing but smudges." Nick shrugged. "Text me when you get the results on these; I'm going out for a coffee." Wendy nodded in reply.

Nick wasn't totally lying; he was going for coffee. It just so happened he was craving the lukewarm crap they served at Mountain View Hospital where Emily was.

**xxx**


	5. Chapter 5: Right Place

**Chapter 5: Right Place**

Nick entered Emily's room just as visiting hours started at seven a.m. to find that she wasn't in her bed as the nurse had told her she was. "Emily?" he called as he knocked on the door.

The toilet flushed from inside the bathroom in the corner of the room. Emily appeared a moment later looking white as a sheet and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "Morning sickness. I get it every damn day." She walked slowly to her bed and lay back down.

Nick, sensing she wasn't nearly as aggravated as she had been the day before, poured her a glass of water from the jug near the door and took it over to her. "Here." He said.

She gave him the smallest of smiles in return as she took the glass. "Why are you here now?" she asked with raised eyebrows. "Cathy didn't pan out so they're trying you again?"

_There's the attitude,_ Nick said to himself. "Actually I'm on a break."

"And on your break you come to see a pregnant woman accused of beating up her boyfriend when _she's_ the one in hospital?" Emily asked with a laugh in her voice. "You need a girl, mate."

"We found Sam." Nick said, folding his arms.

"I know; the lovely Captain Brass came by and told me earlier." Emily settled back into her pillows and held a hand to her belly. "So he's not dead; will your people leave me alone?"

"No; it's not that easy." Nick grabbed a chair and straddled close to her bed. "He attacked you. Don't you want him to pay for it?"

"As long as he leaves me alone; I don't care." Emily muttered.

"Was he cheating on you?" Nick asked.

Emily laughed. "Oh yeah. It was like a hobby for him. Why?"

"I can't really discuss it here..." Nick admitted; thoroughly irritated because this was the most she had opened up and he sensed that she might actually let him in a little. "You'd have to come down to the station."

"Well; I don't think they're gonna let me outta here any time soon." Emily sighed.

"Can I ask you something?" Nick proceeded very carefully. "Off the record?"

Emily took in a deep breath; very, very wary of him. Men in her life had a tendency to be manipulative. "Ok..." She agreed.

"How do you like Vegas?" he said with a smirk. Emily just looked at him for a moment, obviously thinking he was going to ask her something more about Sam or her baby. Nick felt immense relief when her face broke into a genuine smile and she laughed. For those few seconds; they had the smallest connection.

"Yeah; it's great." She smiled rolling onto her side and resting her arm just above her belly. "Barely been here a year and I'm already knocked up and a suspect on an assault charge."

"That's Vegas." Nick shrugged.

Emily smiled at him but it faded as quickly as it had appeared. "Why are you here?" she asked quietly.

"Cos I meant what I said yesterday." Nick told her firmly as he leant in toward her. "I'm here to help you."

Emily scanned his face for a long time; searching for the lie, the facade. But she couldn't seem to find one. "There was a woman." She said softly. "Her name's Monica; I don't know her last name."

"Emily." Nick stopped her. "You have to tell the police. You have to. Otherwise they are gonna pin this on you." Tears appeared in Emily's eyes but she didn't say anything. Nick's phone went off. He checked and saw he had a message from Wendy; she had his results. He got to his feet, sensing he should get out of there before he put his job in jeopardy. "Just think about it." He said to her as he backed out of her room.

"Mr. Stokes?" She called after him faintly, almost not wanting him to hear her.

"Yeah?" He paused in the doorway.

"If I go..." she started slowly. "Can...can you be there?"

"Yes, ma'am." Nick nodded. She nodded back, but didn't smile, and leant back against her pillows; her eyes focused on the ceiling. Nick sighed with relief and headed back out into the hall.

**xxx**

Two days later, Emily was sitting across from Captain Brass at the sheriff's station telling her side of the story.

"Monica and Sam came home together and said they were getting married." She said in an even voice. "I said he couldn't...we're having a baby...how could he...? Anyway...he yelled...I yelled...he started to leave and I told him not to...he turned around and shoved me. I fell...got up and he hit me...then Monica slapped me and gave me this." She pointed to the cut on her forehead; her eyes narrowing and glistening with tears as she recalled the experience. "Sam turned to leave...the pipe was by the door; I grabbed it and hit him. Monica flipped out, she started scratching and hitting the crap outta me..." she laughed uneasily. "Funny thing is that when she had me on the ground in the living room Sam was the one trying to get _her_ off _me_...blood was pouring out of his head, all over everything...I guess he convinced her to stop..."

Nick, who was watching the whole thing play out with Catherine on the other side of the glass wall, relaxed the muscles in his arms. He hadn't realized he'd been tensing them. It was as though a weight was off his shoulders. Armed with the information about Monica; Brass had sent out an arrest warrant for her; but no one seemed to know where she was. He'd also gotten a warrant for all of Monica's items that were in Sam's possession. They matched hairs from her brush to the hair taken off Emily's skirt. Her DNA also matched the lipstick and a fingerprint on the handle of the brush matched one of the three Nick had pulled from the steering wheel. The illusive Monica was nowhere to be found; Sam claimed he hadn't seen her since she dumped him and his car, bleeding, in an alley and ran off.

"You think she's telling the truth, don't you?" Catherine asked Nick as her eyes stayed on Emily.

Nick nodded. "Yeah, I do. I think she's a smart girl who got mixed up with the wrong guy."

"You spent a lot of one-on-one time with her." Catherine broached the subject carefully. "Moreso than in a long time. I thought you were over all this 'getting too involved' stuff; you know as well as I do it can't lead to anything good."

"Yeah, well...she's special." Nick muttered.

"Just be careful." She said turning to him. "Or else they'll _all _become special."

"A judge has issued a restraining order so that Mr. Riley stays at least 100 feet away from you at all times." Brass was saying to Emily. "And it's not set in stone; but I advise you not to go looking for him, either."

"What about the baby?" Emily asked; her brow crinkling.

Brass sighed. "Sam is claiming he's not the father."

Emily scoffed. "Of course he is." She said under her breath.

"We can get a court order for him to compel his DNA when the child's born." Brass told her.

"Yeah, whatever." Emily said with a shrug as she blinked back tears. "Can I go now?"

"Soon." Brass clicked his fingers at the guard by the door that was holding a notepad and pen. "I need you to write down everything you just told me; don't be afraid to go into detail." Emily nodded and started writing. Brass told the guard to keep watch and then he left the room. Catherine and Nick met him in the hallway.

"I don't know what you did, Nick, but good work." Brass told him.

"Where's Sam now?" Nick asked as he folded his arms.

"Downtown; he's gonna be released today." Brass shrugged. "Claims not to want anything to do with Emily anymore. As long as he abides by the restraining order we can't do anything else."

"Do you think he's lying about being the baby's father?" Catherine asked.

Brass shrugged again. "Who knows? He's sure as hell adamant that it's not his kid _now_. But he wasn't saying 'nothin when we picked him up."

"What about Monica?" Nick inquired. "I mean she's the one who attacked Emily..."

"Yeah; and if we find her we'll charge her but right now we got nothing on where she is. She had time to get away. Best we can do is send out her picture to local authorities all around." Brass 

clapped him on the shoulder. "Maybe we'll get lucky. You did good, guys." Brass assured them as he walked away.

"Alright." Catherine said happily as she checked her watch. "I am officially off and heading home. If I'm lucky I'll make it in time for lunch. You want a lift back to the lab?"

"Nah; it's cool. You go ahead." Nick told her as he watched Emily writing her statement in the interrogation room.

"Nick." Catherine put a hand on his shoulder. "Please don't get deeper into this. I'm telling you as a friend, nothing good-"

"Nothing good can come of it, I know." Nick finished for her. "You gotta stop worrying, Cath." He smiled at her. "Go; go get some sleep."

"Ok." She said as she headed away. "See you tomorrow night!" She called back.

Nick changed his mind about fifty times in the hour he waited for Emily. Half of his brain wanted him to leave; cut the ties right here and now. If he left before she saw him; he'd never have to see her again. But the thing was; he did want to see her again. At least once. He didn't want to be another notch on her belt of men who'd manipulated her. That wasn't what he had done and it certainly wasn't what he wanted her to think of him.

Captain Brass led Emily, who was dressed in a flowing, faded green floor length sundress with her brown hair loosely falling over her back, out of the interview room and into the main foyer. She waited at the front desk and signed some forms before she was finally allowed to go. Where she was going to go, she had no idea.

"Hey." Nick spoke up as she almost walked straight passed him and out of the building.

"Nick." She looked confused. "What are you...were you waiting for me?"

"Yeah." Nick nodded. "Wanna go get something to eat?"

"Cos I'm pregnant you assume I'm always hungry?" She asked irritably.

"Yeah." Nick answered with a nod.

"You're right; let's go." She said walking passed him and heading outside. Nick fell into step beside her and the two of them went to the diner down the street. While they were waiting for their food; Nick realized what a difference a couple of days had made in Emily's demeanour. The attitude was still there; peeking out a few times but there was also a laid-back quality about her now; an ease.

"You know where you're gonna stay?" Nick asked her.

Emily leant back in her chair and shrugged. "With one of Sam's cousins, Clara. She has a couple of kids of her own and hates Sam's guts but she and I got kinda close; said I could stay as long as I wanted."

"Good." Nick nodded. "I hope it works out for you." He paused before continuing. "Decided what you're gonna do with your baby?"

Emily sighed and looked down at her hands. "I dunno...it's all still a little muddled up in my head." She shook her head. "I mean...this is so _not_ the direction I thought my life was headed. I came to Vegas for a holiday." She smiled weakly.

"Do you talk to your family in Australia?" Nick asked.

"My mum." She nodded. "She doesn't know I'm pregnant, though."

"You haven't told her?"

"If I told her; she'd come over here to rescue me." Emily explained. "I couldn't do that to her. I mean; I'll tell her...I will but...I can't really do it over the phone."

"Well, you're kinda on a clock." Nick gestured at her growing belly.

"Well spotted." Emily smirked.

They ate lunch and continued to chat for another hour or so. It had been a long time since Nick had made an instant friend like Emily. He assumed that the tough mask she had presented when he'd arrived at the crime scene was a safety precaution; she didn't trust anyone. Fair enough; everyone she seemed to trust had wronged her.

"Can I give you a lift somewhere?" Nick asked her as they left the cafe.

"No; it's ok." Emily assured him. "Clara lives like one block from here; I can walk. It's fine."

"What kinda a guy would I be to make a pregnant woman walk home after lunch?" He gestured to his SUV. "Come on." Emily relented and climbed into the passenger's seat of Nick's car. Clara's home was a block and a half from the cafe. Nick parked on the curb and retrieved a business card from his jacket. "This is my home number." He said as he wrote it on the card. "You get in a jam; call me."

Emily took the card and looked at him strangely. "I didn't think CSI guys were the Serve and Protect kinda people."

Nick smiled. "Just in case."

"Thank you." She told him sincerely. "For everything you did. I know you didn't have to be so nice." She paused. "Thank you." She repeated.

"EMILY!" A child's voice yelped happily from the front door of the house.

Turning in her seat, Emily saw Jessie, Clara's five-year-old daughter. She waved at her and then turned back to Nick. "I better go." She said climbing out of the car. "Thanks for lunch. "She told him through the open window.

Nick nodded. "Take care of yourself." He smiled.

"I will." She agreed. She held out her hand to shake his. "Good to meet you, Nick."

"You too." Nick replied as he shook her hand, perhaps hanging onto it slightly longer than he should have.

Smiling one more time, Emily turned and headed for Clara's house. Jessie came bounding towards her and wrapped her arms around her waist. Clara came to the door with her two-year-old son, Jarred, on her hip. She smiled warmly and ushered Emily and her daughter into the house.

Nick watched from his car and waited until the front door was shut before he drove away. He thought of Emily for the rest of the night. He wondered if he'd ever see her again; he assumed he wouldn't. In the past when he'd met victims like her; they never seemed to need him again. Well, they did need him but they never called for his help. The weeks went by and gradually she left his thoughts. Nick went back to focusing on his work; his job was the one victim that always seemed to need him. And generally he was more than happy to oblige.

That was until four weeks later when Nick arrived at the crime scene of a homicide and recognized the victim. It was Sam Riley. And Emily was nowhere to be found.

**xxx**


	6. Chapter 6: One Way Or Another

**Chapter 6: One Way Or Another**

After clearing with Grissom that he was good to go on Sam's case, Nick stood back and reviewed the crime scene. He'd been in the motel room for three hours with Warrick. The body had been removed; the cause of death was clear: gunshot wound to the back of the head. That meant someone murdered him in cold blood. Sam had been found sitting on a couch in front of the TV and the spatter of the blood confirmed that was where he'd been killed. A nine millimetre pistol was the murder weapon and Nick had found it beside the body; wiped clean of prints. It did have a serial number though and looked brand new so that meant it was traceable.

The carpet had been freshly vacuumed to remove any footprints but, seeing as it was a very dingy motel room, there was hair, fingerprints and fibres everywhere. Warrick found some women's underwear at the bottom of a laundry basket but other than that; no sign that Sam was staying with another person. Nick was silently hoping that the prints he'd pulled from the common surfaces weren't a match to Emily but also, seeing as she was missing, it would be a relief to place her somewhere.

"Dug up some info on Mr Riley." Brass said as he came in. "Three days ago his settlement cheque cleared. Sammy was 600 000 dollars richer."

Warrick let out a low whistle. "What for exactly?"

Brass shrugged. "He was a carpenter; some shoddy roofing caved in on him while he was on the clock. He was offered the cash to keep quiet." He scoffed. "Someone sure silenced him."

"Any news on Emily or Monica?" Nick asked; not really caring about the latter.

Brass shook his head. "No. And the Manager says the room was rented under Sam's name. I showed him a picture of both women; he recognized both but couldn't be sure which one was here last."

"Why would Emily come back here?" Nick asked; though he didn't really mean to say it out loud.

"Who knows?" Brass said. "Maybe she heard about the settlement; wanted half for their kid."

Nick was about to protest when a woman he recognized as Sam's cousin, Clara – the woman Emily had been staying with when he'd left her weeks before – came into the apartment with a young officer trying unsuccessfully to keep her away.

"Oh, Sam..." She said when she saw all the blood. "What did you do?"

"Ma'am you can't be here." Nick said as he stood in front of the crime scene.

"I knew this would happen; he kept on bragging about all that damn money." Clara shook her head.

"Outside, ma'am, please." Brass took her elbow and walked her outside. Nick followed.

Clara leant against the railing of the motel balcony and stared at the early morning sun. "I told him to knock it off...he never listens to me."

"Ma'am; I understand Emily Anderson has been living with you?" Brass questioned her.

"She _was_." Clara corrected him as she turned back around. "She left about a week ago; real freaked out."

"She left?" Nick couldn't believe she'd just leave; she seemed to like Clara and her kids. She was safe there.

Clara nodded. "I tried to get her to stay; but...I dunno...sometime just aren't the mothering type."

"Did she have problems in her pregnancy?" Brass asked.

"No, no. Nothing like that." Clara said. "Look; I got two kids and she was great with 'em. And they loved her...but, I dunno...when it came to her own kid she was just...strange." Sighing; Clara jeered her head into Sam's apartment. "Probably because of him...he was such a prick to her."

"Do you know where she is now?" Brass continued.

Clara shook her head. "No; haven't heard from her in a few days; she won't answer her cell...wait..." she looked between Nick and Brass. "You don't think _Emily_ did this to Sam, do you?"

"We're just covering bases." Nick assured her.

"She wouldn't. How could she? You should see her; she's huge." Clara almost laughed. "I guess she coulda hopped a flight back home to Australia..."

Brass doubted this. "A woman _that_ pregnant wouldn't be allowed on a plane from here to Chicago let alone another country."

Clara shrugged. "Look; I don't know where she is." She said sincerely. "But if I talk to her I'll tell her to call you guys."

"Do you know a Monica Night?" Brass asked Clara. "She was your cousin's fiancée."

"I've heard her name mentioned." Clara sighed. "But no; never met the chick. She's the one who beat up Emily." She shook her head and clenched her jaw. "If she's smart she'll stay away."

"Thank you." Brass told her. "We'll be in touch."

Clara nodded and started to leave with the young officer. Nick went after her. "Ma'am?" he called.

"Yes?" She turned back.

"When you said Emily was freaked out what did you mean exactly?" He started.

"Well; more than once I woke up and could hear her crying in her room." Clara told him; clearly saddened by the memory. "But when I asked her about it she pretended like she had no clue what I was talking about."

"Was she depressed?" Nick asked concernedly.

"Look; what kinda cop guy are you to be askin..." She paused when she noticed Nick's last name stitched into his vest. "Stokes." She read. Then she looked up at Nick. "You're Nick Stokes?" he nodded. "She told me about you...said you were a good guy."

"Well; I'm really anxious to get a hold of her; make sure she's ok." Nick admitted.

"Me too." Clara nodded. "Like I said; I'll let her know to call you when she shows up." She checked her watch. "Look; I gotta get back to my kids."

"Thank you for your help." Nick told her as she walked away. As he walked back to the crime scene; he prepped himself because he could see Warrick's judgemental eyes on him every step he took.

"What was that?" Warrick asked; nodding back at Clara.

"Nothin." Nick told him.

"Look; Cath told me all about that little bond you formed with this Emily chick..." Warrick trailed off.

"Hardly a bond." Nick said; avoiding his eyes. "Just talked to her a couple of times off the clock and all of a sudden people think we're best buds."

"Don't take that tone with me." Warrick chided him. "I'm just saying; if you need to step back on this one it's cool."

"Thanks, man, but I got it." Nick assured his friend. He managed to sound a lot more confident than he felt.

**xxx**


	7. Chapter 7: Who Where When What Why

**Chapter 7: Who Where When What Why**

Nick and Warrick finished at the crime scene about an hour later and headed back to the lab. David called them from the morgue to say the autopsy was done and he was sending up a report. He confirmed the COD was definitely the bullet to the head with the weapon from the scene. Nick ran the serial number on the gun; it was registered to Sam. He'd bought it two days before his death.

"Probably with his new cash." Warrick suggested. "Guy buys a piece to protect his girl Monica...maybe she flipped on him?"

"Maybe." Nick agreed; he much preferred that theory than the one that labelled Emily as a murderer. Sighing as he retrieved his fingerprints results; Nick handed them apprehensively to his partner. "Monica and Emily's prints were both at the scene. Monica's on the coffee table; Emily's on the back of the front door handle."

Warrick sighed as he scanned the printout. "So we got two suspects, both with motive and means. Sam was shot with his own gun; since it was new he mighta been throwing it around like a big shot. Sets himself up in front of the TV and then boom." He held a finger gun to the back of Nick's skull to visualize his point. "Question still remains; which one of 'em pulled the trigger?"

"Monica attacked Emily." Nick reminded him.

"After Emily attacked Sam." Warrick countered. "It coulda been either of 'em."

"So we need something concrete." Nick muttered.

"No security cameras at the motel." Warrick brought up. "All fake; just for show. What I don't get is if this guy had all this cash; why go to such a crappy motel? Surely the Tangiers would've been his first choice."

"Not the best place to go if you're planning a murder though..." Nick thought suddenly. "What if Monica convinced him to get a shoddy motel to try and hide what she was planning to do?"

Warrick considered this. "Maybe. It'd help if we knew where either of them was right now."

"Hey boys." Bobby Dawson, ballistics genius, said as he came into the lab. In his hands he had Sam Riley's pistol in a plastic bag. "Thought you might wanna take another look at this." He laid the bag on the table and removed the gun. He held it up under a lamp and removed the barrel of the gun. "Whoever cleaned this did a good job but not that good. ALS?" he looked at Warrick who handed him the ALS penlight. Bobby shone it into the cramped innards of the gun. The faintest blue speck flared up. "There's a blood spot in there. You see this kinda thing on gun's touted by people unfamiliar with firing weapon. They fire it and the pin gets caught here." He pointed at the skin between his thumb and forefinger. "So this blood belongs to your shooter."

"Thanks Bobby." Nick clapped him on the shoulder and busily set about swabbing the gun; kicking himself that he didn't pick up on it.

"I'm gonna go check in with Brass." Warrick spoke up. "See if he managed to get Sam's phone records. You good?" When Nick didn't answer, Warrick rapped his knuckles on the workbench. "Hey."

"What?" Nick looked up at him. "Yeah; no. I'm good, man. Take your time." He told his partner as he collected the swab and headed towards the DNA lab.

Wendy was tapping her pen against her microscope to the beat of a song on the radio when Nick came in. "Hey." She greeted him.

"Hey; Wendy, look can you do a comparison on this blood for me?" He handed her the swab.

"Sure." Wendy nodded.

"I need you to check it against Wendy Night's and Emily Anderson's DNA. Both are in the system from the previous case." Nick informed her. "And put a rush on it; whosever blood that is fired our murder weapon."

"I'll get right on it." Wendy assured him as he left.

"Page me when you get something." He called over his shoulder.

Hodges came barrelling out of the lab and almost knocked Nick off his feet. "Sorry, bro." David said; shaking himself off. "But I may have just cracked your case."

"Yeah; why?" Nick asked; his irritation towards Hodges on mute for a moment.

"Pulled some pubic hairs off that underwear you found in Sam's motel room; match's the girlfriend." Hodges handed Nick the results.

"Monica." Nick read the results. "She did it."

"No offense Nick, but I've been around here long enough to know that just placing her in the motel room isn't enough to convict her."

"Then where the hell is she?" Nick asked smugly. "She shoots Sam and takes off with his cash before the cops show up."

"I thought you found that pregnant chick's prints there, too?" Hodges reminded him with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe she showed up after he died." Nick muttered; reading the results again. "Thanks for this, Hodges."

After taking a break to check in with Brass, see if maybe Emily had turned up – she hadn't - Wendy found Nick in the break room with results. "Monica's blood on the gun." She said proudly as she handed him the DNA results. "You got her."

"Great!" Nick said excitedly. "If only we knew where to find her. But this proves Emily didn't kill Sam."

"Still; why was she there?" Wendy asked; sounding a little too much like Hodges.

"I think I have the answer to that." Warrick spoke up as he came into the break room. "I just got a hold of Sam's phone records. He made five calls to Clara's home phone last night. I just talked to Clara and she says Emily was baby-sitting the kids all night; giving her a break."

"Gloating about this newfound fortune." Nick surmised.

"I'd wanna kill him." Wendy mumbled. The guys looked at her sort of funny. "Think about. This poor girl's having his baby then he decides to leave; but not before he lets his new girlfriend beat up on his pregnant ex. Then he calls outta nowhere to brag about how rich he is and how he's not giving any of the money to her. Add that to hormones and you've got a walking bomb waiting to go off."

"That's not all." Warrick sighed. "Clara owns a gun. Derringer. Remington. .41 caliber. She told me it's been missing a couple of days; claims she moves it all the time and thought she must've just forgotten where it was. Responsible, right?"

"Even if Emily did take it; that's not the gun that killed Sam." Nick realized. "She didn't kill him."

Suddenly, Grissom came hurrying in from the hallway. "Nick; I just got a call from Brass. They found Emily Anderson." He said in a harried voice. And Grissom wasn't one to get harried. Ever.

"She ok?" Nick asked urgently.

"She's on the roof of a cafe downtown with a gun in her hands." Grissom continued. "And she's asking for you."

**xxx**


	8. Chapter 8: Holding On For You

**Chapter 8: Holding On For You**

Nick was picked up from the lab in a police car and sped, sirens wailing, to Emily's location. Only when they arrived did he realize the cafe was the same one he'd taken her to on the last day he'd seen her. There were police cars surrounding the area; keeping civilians well clear. Seeing as it was so late; most businesses in the area were closed apart from a twenty-four hour liquor store across the road so the prying eyes were thankfully few and far between.

Atop the roof sitting with her back against the sign of the cafe, _Morton's_, with her legs sticking straight out in front of her was Emily. Even from a distance Nick could see how desperate she looked. Brass came up to Nick and pulled him aside.

"She won't talk." He said. "We've had guys trying to speak to her for hours. The second one of 'em makes a move towards her she holds up the gun. Only thing she's said is she'll only talk to you." He paused. "How well did you get to know her?"

"Not that well." Nick admitted; explaining to Jim that after that lunch he hadn't seen or heard from her again until this night. "I told her to call me if she was having problems but she never did."

"Alright; go up there slow and steady." Brass told him, pulling him towards the ladder the fire department had set up against the building. "We'll put this vest on ya." He took a bullet proof vest from a waiting officer and handed it to Nick. "Hopefully you can talk her down and you won't need it."

"She say anything about her baby?" Nick inquired.

Brass shook his head. "Not a word." He paused as they arrived at the foot of the ladder. "Don't be a hero, Nick. Just talk to her."

Ascending the ladder; Nick didn't really know what to do. He was a CSI; he was an expert in what to do _after_ a crime was committed; not during. He got up on the roof safely and edged towards Emily. He wanted to let her know early that he was there in case she got spooked. He could see her tear streaked face staring at a point on the horizon. She had the gun loosely in her grip and resting on her swollen belly.

"Hey, Em?" He called to her from afar. She glanced over at him; validating that she'd seen him and then looked away. "What's going on?" He took a few more steps towards her.

"Sam's dead." She mumbled to the horizon.

"Yeah. Yeah; I know." Nick said. "I also know you didn't do it."

"I was going to." She said; looking over at him again. "That's why I went there...but he was already dead when I arrived."

Nick arrived less than a foot from her and knelt down. "I know that, too." He paused, watching her broken face carefully. "So what are you doing up here?"

She looked over at Nick; fresh tears appearing in her eyes. "His settlement cheque came in." She mumbled.

"I heard." Nick sat beside her and leant back against the Morton's sign.

"He called me; told me all about it." Emily moved the gun to her other hand place it on her opposite side to Nick in case he should try and be heroic and grab it off her. "Told me how he was going to start clean...start his new life...without me and without this baby..." She held a hand to her stomach and leant her head back; staring up at the sky. "I never wanted any of this." She said in a whisper.

"I know." Nick assured her. "You came to Vegas; got in over your head."

"He was a good man when I met him." She said to Nick; her chin quivering. "He was sweet and kind...but then he changed..." She sighed. "They always do." She muttered sadly.

"Why didn't you end it?" Nick asked curiously.

She looked over at Nick and nodded down to her belly. "Why do you think?" She snapped. "Truth is I wasn't gonna tell him...but then he found the pregnancy test in the trash...and he was so happy." She sniffled. "He convinced me we'd do it together." She turned back to Nick and shook her head; a look of disbelief on her face. "Why would he do that? Why would he lie? He didn't have to tell me he'd found the test; he didn't have to promise me that we'd..." She cut herself off as the tears started flowing out of her eyes.

"He's an asshole." Nick confirmed. "And we can talk about him all you want; just come down off this roof, Emily."

Gripping the gun behind her, Emily snapped. "No!" She screamed holding the gun off the ground. "Don't!" She looked at Nick as though she'd just realized how close he was to her. "Get back!" She shuffled further along the roof away from him.

Nick glanced down at all the police officers grouping below them. They were out of earshot; but they most definitely saw her move. Nick got to his feet and took a few paces away from Emily, motioning to the police that he had it covered. "Emily; come on now! This is gettin' outta control!"

"You don't know, Nick!" She shouted at him; eyes blurry with tears and her face crumbling. "_You don't know!!_"

Nick held up his hands at her. "Ok; then help me understand." He told her. "What's going on?"

She laughed in a heartbroken sob. "Why are you doing this?"

"You asked for me." Nick answered.

"No; I mean what do you get outta this?" She sneered. "What do you get for talking a crazy woman with a gun off a building?"

"You're not crazy, Emily." Nick assured her. "You're just going through a really hard time."

"You didn't answer my question." Emily ignored his statement. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here because I care about what happens to you." Nick admitted.

"Oh really?" Emily asked sarcastically.

"Yeah; really." Nick said firmly. "I like you. You're smart. And you have a good heart in you; I know you do. I've seen it."

Emily laughed through her tears. "You don't like me; Nick, alright? You just wanna rescue me...you just wanna save me." She ran her hand over her belly.

"Maybe." Nick shrugged. "I know for sure I wanna get you the hell off this building." Her face broke and she started sobbing. Nick took a few steps towards her. He knew she knew he was moving but she wasn't stopping him. "Emily." He called to her but she didn't look up or stop weeping. She was taking in ragged breaths while holding her forehead with her hands. "Emily; look at me." Nick knelt before her; she was an arms-length away. "Look at me." She looked over at him; shoulders heaving with hearty sobs and even more tears slipping down her face. "Please come with me and get offa this roof; it's cold as hell up here. Can't be good for you or your baby." The mention of her infant caused Emily to tense and look back at the horizon.

"Emily..." Nick continued carefully. "Don't you wanna make sure your baby's alright?" His heart ached when he saw her shake her head. "Why not?"

She took a few deep breaths to calm down and finally caught Nick's eye again. She opened her mouth and said nothing for a few seconds before she managed to find the words. "Because it's not gonna want me." That was all she needed to break her completely. Her sobs became cries as she started to shudder with sadness.

Not willing to touch her in case she wielded the gun still gripped in her right hand; Nick just looked at her with pity. "Why the hell would you think a thing like that?"

"Because it knows I don't want it and was gonna get rid of it." She told him miserably. "Baby's know that stuff." She looked down at her belly and cried some more.

Watching her so depressed, Nick wasn't sure what to do. So far he'd pretty much been winging it; going with his heart. He decided not to cease now. "Do you want your baby now?" He asked her carefully. "This second; do you want this baby?" He kept his concerned eyes on her; hoping for a reaction that gave him an inkling she cared about her child. "Do you want it to be healthy? And safe?" It took almost thirty seconds for her to move her head up and down enough for Nick to know she was nodding. "Ok; then your baby knows that, too, Em." He assured her. "And it knows that you don't wanna do this. So please give me that gun and come with me off this building." He reached out both of his hands for the gun resting on her belly. "Come on; give me the gun."

Emily; seeing him reach for her belly, instinctively tightened her grip on the handle but her mind started to make a little more sense. How could she want to save her baby and be holding a gun to her belly at the same time? She couldn't. So she slowly, so slowly it wouldn't be foolish to think she wasn't moving, raised her gun toting hand off her belly and towards Nick's approaching hands.

"It's gonna be ok." Nick assured her; keeping his eyes locked on Emily with the gun in his peripheral. "You're gonna be alright. Just gimme the gun." He enclosed one hand around the weapon and the other tightly around Emily's wrist. He easily wrenched the gun from her hands and pushed it along the rooftop behind him so she couldn't reach it. He pulled Emily's sobbing frame into his body and held his arms around her; signaling to Brass that it was all over. Emily cried and cried into Nick's chest and he just held onto her.

Three officers climbed into the roof, one collecting and disarming the gun; and the other two came towards Nick and Emily; motioning that they had to move. Nick helped Emily to her feet but she didn't seem to be able to stand on her own; he kept an arm around her and helped her walk to the ladder. She managed to get down on her own, Nick close behind, and then the two of them headed to a waiting ambulance.

Brass pulled Nick aside as Emily was being hooked up to some foetal monitors in the van. "Nice job." Brass told Nick.

"She's not a criminal, Jim." Nick told him. "She's just having a rough time."

"Spare me the Prince Charming speech, Nick." Brass smirked. "I know she didn't hurt anyone but she'll still be charged with carrying a weapon, breaking and entering...no way she'll spend a second in jail though." He sighed and watched the paramedics check over Emily. "You did good, Stokes. This coulda gone a lot worse." He clapped Nick on the shoulder then left him alone.

Nick made his way over to the ambulance and climbed in beside Emily. She looked absolutely spent. "Feeling better?"

Emily nodded. "Will you come with me to the hospital?" she asked quietly.

Nick nodded. "You're gonna be fine, Em." He assured her.

"Thank you." She smiled at him.


End file.
